ANC to ignore ratings advice - Godongwana

Johannesburg - The ANC will ignore ratings company advice and will call for an increase in mining taxes, Business Day reported the party's economic policy head as saying.

In the report on Thursday, Enoch Godongwana said the party must ensure that the lives of poor black South Africans improve, or risk giving an opportunity for populist leaders to stir up social unrest and erode the ANC's dominance.

“Unless we do some radical transformation, we'll create fertile ground for an uncontrollable revolution,” Godongwana said.

Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's have downgraded South Africa's debt, citing slower economic growth, after the worst mining strikes since the end of apartheid and political pressure to raise spending.

“We're kind of in a Catch-22 situation because there are people who listen to Moody's, and when we go out there and raise money it becomes expensive,” Godongwana said.

“We may take a hit. We've got to make a choice: do we please Standard and Poor's and Moody's, or do we deal with the kind of constituencies we are facing? We're walking that tightrope.”

While Godongwana ruled out the ANC conference agreeing to any form of mine nationalisation, he said increased taxes on mining were possible. - Sapa